


Milestones

by fencingfox



Series: qorDu' Means Family [1]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Family, Gen, Pre-Episode: s07e25 Endgame (Star Trek: Voyager)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21719602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fencingfox/pseuds/fencingfox
Summary: We don't see much of B'Elanna's pregnancy. We see even less of them raising Miral before the events of Endgame reset all that.
Relationships: Miral Paris & B'Elanna Torres, Miral Paris & Tom Paris, Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres
Series: qorDu' Means Family [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1467097
Comments: 8
Kudos: 26





	Milestones

**Author's Note:**

> be'HomjoH (princess)  
> Thank you @tortitudette

**First Month**

B'Elanna swayed as she rocked Miral to sleep. The baby only fell asleep if she continued moving. B'Elanna felt exhausted. It was the third time Miral had woken up tonight. The second was because she was hungry, but now it seemed the child had too much energy to sleep through the night. She began humming a tune she'd heard Tom sing. It had to do with buying the small child an inordinate amount of odd things. She didn't know the lyrics well enough to sing, but the tune relaxed the baby in her arms. Finally, Miral fell asleep. B'Elanna lay her in her crib and scooted back to bed with Tom. Tom rolled over to throw an arm over his wife.

"She asleep now?" He mumbled softly against her ear.

"Yeah, no thanks to you," she whispered.

"Hey, I helped. I stayed out of the way." He had a point. Two people made Miral excited. They managed to get a few more hours of sleep before they were awoken by Miral's stuttering sobs. Tom stilled his wife and got up instead. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could handle. Miral had only been home for just under a month now and already Tom felt like he was running on only half as much sleep. He walked around the room as he rocked her. He was too tired to sing, but hummed the same tune B'Elanna had. Soon she fell asleep and Tom went back to bed. B'Elanna shifted a little closer as he settled.

**\---**

B'Elanna dropped Miral off with Ensign Wildman the next morning. She had Beta shift and would watch the young Miral until B'Elanna finished her Alpha shift. B'Elanna had opted not to take parental leave—except for the two weeks the Doctor required of her to heal—as she was the best engineer on the ship. The Captain assured her that the ship would survive the thirty weeks without her. B'Elanna didn't think so. And to be honest, she liked working in engineering. It reminded her of a time before Miral, before she worried every second of every day what she would do if a red alert happened and she was without Miral. (Everyone knew to take her to Sickbay straight away.) It reminded her of before that ache in her heart each time she had to leave Miral with Wildman. It reminded her of how coldly lonely she was without her sweet, bubbling baby. She had always had Tom, but Miral filled a different hole. She filled that hole her father had gouged out when he left. She filled those holes her mother had phasered through each time she told B'Elanna how disappointed she was in her. She promised never to leave or hurt Miral.

Tom arrived for his bridge duty exhausted. He couldn't hide that fact from Chakotay as he sat down with a huff. He'd noticed a few bags under his eyes this morning. Miral woke up an hour before dawn and wouldn't for the life of him go back to sleep. She seemed to think it was time to wake up. He let B'Elanna sleep in since she'd answered the first three of Miral's cries.

"Rough night with the new baby?" Chakotay asked as the Captain pulled her attention from the console between them. She hadn't been able to see the newborn yet. She vowed to stop by tonight. Tom sighed as he pressed a few buttons.

"Yeah. Miral won't sleep unless we walk her." Chakotay nodded sympathetically. Tom pressed another button. It armed the phaser bank. "Whoops." He disarmed it and sighed. He was really too tired to be here.

"Why don't you get some sleep, Tom," the Captain suggested. She nodded to Chakotay who stood up to take his place. It was music to his ears.

"Aye, Captain." Tom stood up and headed back to his quarters. He collapsed on his bed, still dressed and booted.

On the bridge, Chakotay guided _Voyager_ in the right direction. His mind was mostly elsewhere. He hadn't had a baby shower gift for the family. B'Elanna had skipped the tradition anyway. Yet, the Captain had already given her some knitted blankets with Miral's initials: MP. He drew up schematics in his head for a self-rocking bassinet. Maybe it would give his pilot and chief engineer the much needed sleep they'd been missing.

**\---**

B'Elanna picked up Miral after her shift. Since having her, she found it easier to leave her post for lunch to eat and breastfeed and at the end of the day to go home. She looked forward to spending the rest of her time with her daughter. When she opened her quarters, she was surprised to find Tom already there. Normally, she beat him since he had to wait for his relief to relieve him. Then he'd typically wait for Harry to walk back together.

"Hi there," she said as she balanced Miral against one side of her chest. She began to unzip her jacket. Tom came to take the calm Miral from her arms so that his wife could remove the jacket and turtleneck to breastfeed her. He sat down to support her small body against his torso and bounce her lightly on his knee. She gurgled delightfully, making her parents smile. "How come you're home early?"

"The Captain took pity on me and let me leave to sleep. To be fair, I nearly phasered an unsuspecting moon." B'Elanna shook her head. She'd had no such luck, but at least she wasn't up for the last few hours of the night. When she woke up, Tom was playing with Miral, having given up on getting her back to sleep. He had looked exhausted. B'Elanna sat down next to Tom and extended her arms to take Miral. Tom handed the precious package to her so that B'Elanna could hold Miral to her breast. Miral latched on quickly once B'Elanna rubbed her cheek against her nipple.

**=/\=**

**Fifth Month**

Miral sat on their bed against a pillow. Tom lay on the bed with his feet hanging off of it. He talked sweetly to his daughter while B'Elanna watched from behind him.

"Come now, Miral. Say 'Dada'. Go on." She looked away at her mother smiling down at her. Tom clapped his hands to get her attention. She looked surprised when she saw him and then giggled with a toothless smile. "You like that then?" He pulled himself closer to rub his nose against hers. "Does Miral like Daddy's clapping?" He clapped a few times in front of her when he pulled away. Miral imitated him, giggling. She clapped so hard that she managed to fall over sideways on the bed. A look of shock took over her features before she began to cry. Tom hustled to right her again, setting her more firmly against the pillows. He clapped again, saying 'Dada' with each clap. She copied his clapping joyously. B'Elanna stooped to sit down next to her husband with her hand on the curve of his back while she watched the happy pair clap away.

After thirty minutes of this, B'Elanna stood and scooped up her daughter with a flourish that made her giggle and smile. She took Miral to the bassinet in the base of their bed. She placed Miral in it on her back and pressed the button on the bottom at the base with her foot. The cradle rocked softly. Tom came up behind her to hug her waist and look down at their daughter over her shoulder. The movement of Chakotay's handmade bassinet made Miral sleepy. She quickly drifted to sleep with a soft smile on her lips.

**=/\=**

**Ninth Month**

B'Elanna picked up her daughter before she could trigger the door's automatic opening. She faced her in the opposite direction to continue her exploratory crawling. Miral went a few paces before she realized what had happened. She turned around and headed back for the door. B'Elanna groaned. She picked up Miral and balanced her on her hip while she initiated a force field in front of the door. It shouldn't hurt her daughter, but it would keep her from escaping their all too small shared quarters. She set Miral back down and laughed to herself when the girl reared up on her knees to touch the sudden blockage. She seemed confused. The door was open, but she couldn't go any further. She pushed at it with two hands with a soft 'ah ah'. B'Elanna responded to her daughter's name for her.

"No, you're too little to go out there. Someone will step on you!" She teased. Disappointed, Miral crawled away to go under the bed, one of her favorite places. B'Elanna followed her. She settled herself on the bed so that her head hung on the other side of it. She lifted the bed skirts to a surprised Miral. "Boo!" Then she dropped the skirt. She heard bubbly giggling under her. She repeated the game until she heard a soft 'ow' from the door.

"B'Elanna? Why is there a force field here?" B'Elanna looked at her husband. He was holding his nose and had a hand on the force field.

"Miral wanted to leave." She answered apologetically. Miral lifted the bed skirts to find her mother. She couldn't find her even though she could hear her.

"Can you lower it?"

"Sure." B'Elanna climbed off of the bed and headed to the panel by the door. The force field fell down. Tom lowered his hand on his nose and looked at it for blood as he stepped inside. There was none. He wrapped his hands around B'Elanna's waist and pulled her to him as the door closed behind them. He kissed her sweetly. "What was that for?" She asked when they parted.

"I just love you. What other reason would I need?" They heard the door open and B'Elanna only just saw the wiggling, diapered butt of her daughter as she escaped into the corridor. She shook her head, laughing, and pulled away in time to see Tuvok take an extra large step and stumble from the effort to avoid landing on the infant. Miral leaned back and sat down to stare up at the tall Vulcan.

"Ah ah." Tuvok wasn't privy to Miral's name for her mother. He knelt toward the child. Tom swore he saw him smile slightly as he picked her up and brought her to his chest in the practiced motion of a seasoned parent.

"I fail to see what is funny about my presence," he addressed to the smiley Miral. Her demeanor reminded him of his daughter. She, too, was a happy baby. His eldest's son's daughter was a happy baby too. She was occasionally in his correspondences home.

"She wasn't laughing; she was calling for me," B'Elanna appeared in front of Tuvok. He was bouncing Miral lightly. B'Elanna took Miral from Tuvok and held her by her bottom with one hand on her stomach so that Miral could lean against her and still watch Tuvok. He let her grab a finger and shake his hand. Tuvok thought she was strong for only nine months even as a quarter-Klingon. A thought occurred to Tom.

"Say, Vulcans learn how to control their emotions from a young age? They don't start out all disciplined?" B'Elanna looked at her husband, unsure of where he was going.

"That is correct." Tuvok pulled his hand away from Miral then. She swayed toward him but B'Elanna's hand on her stomach prevented the infant from falling.

"Do you think you can teach Miral a little? I don't want her to get into too much trouble." He chanced a sideways look at his wife. She was glaring at him. _Yeah, Miral will need help._

"I believe I can, however, Vulcan children don't begin until their fifth year. Miral will need to wait as long if not longer before we begin. And she will never be as adept as a Vulcan would." Tom nodded.

"That's fine. Even a little bit will probably help her. Thank you, Tuvok."

"You're welcome." His eyes lingered on Miral's form. He wouldn't admit it to anyone except himself, but he hoped to see his granddaughter before she became an adult. He really should be going. B'Elanna knelt to speak to her daughter.

"Wave 'bye-bye' to Lieutenant Commander Tuvok." Miral raised her hand and moved it up and down in imitation of a wave goodbye.

"Buh-buh."

"Bye-bye, Miral," Tuvok said firmly before he turned to go. He stopped and turned to face them. He considered his next request. In all likely-hood, he would not see his eldest granddaughter before she entered adulthood. "You may call me Grampa Tuvok, little one." B'Elanna turned to her husband and shifted Miral to be more secure against her hip after he'd left.

" _Grampa_ Tuvok?" She asked. Tom shrugged.

"He's probably lonely. Plus, he's already a granddad." B'Elanna nodded. She could hardly consider the thought of knowing she wouldn't see someone like Tom or Miral for years and years. It must bother even a Vulcan.

"Hungry?"

"Starving," He answered as he knelt to Miral's eye level. "How about you, be'HomjoH? You hungry?"

"Ah," she answered and patted his forehead with a chubby hand. Tom chuckled.

"I guess so. Let's get you some cheerios." B'Elanna sat Miral down in a high chair while Tom went to the replicator. He replicated Miral's cheerios first, knowing that his daughter disliked her highchair unless she had food. He poured them onto the tray. Miral grabbed hungrily at them and shoved her fist into her mouth. After a few failed attempts, she slowed down and stuck only a few into her mouth at a time. Tom created his and B'Elanna's dinner: warm enchiladas that they could share with their daughter in small bites.

**=/\=**

**Twelfth Month**

Miral waddled to the nearby chair without taking her hands off of any furniture for more than a few seconds. Her mother knelt on her knees across from her. Tom stood with a camera aimed at his daughter taking a video and hoping to catch her first real steps. B'Elanna held her arms out to her daughter.

"Come here, Miral. Walk to Mama." Miral regarded her mother for a moment as if deep in thought. Her forehead crinkled as she realized her mother was too far away to get to with furniture. She contemplated crying and plopping to the floor. Instead, Miral stepped a little away from the chair and tested herself. Taking her hands off of the chair, she was able to stand for a few seconds but leaned forward precariously.

B'Elanna reached out, but her daughter didn't need her help. She was able to catch the chair again to steady herself. She thought that if she was quick she could make it to her mother's arms. Miral looked at her mother and let go of the chair as she pushed her short legs forward. Tom beamed as his daughter took one, two, three, four, five steps and landed in his wife's awaiting arms. B'Elanna laughed and smiled as she hugged Miral. 

"Good job, Miral! You did it! You walked!" She turned to her husband. "You got that right? I want to watch that every day." Tom nodded and lowered the camera.

"Ah ah." B'Elanna held Miral in the air and nuzzled her nose with her own.

"That's right, you walked to Mama. You're such a big girl!"

"Ah mah." B'Elanna looked at her daughter. Tom did as well. He began recording again.

"Maaah maaah," B'Elanna drew out the vowels to help her daughter.

"Aaah maaah."

"Mmmah mmmah," she stressed the letter her daughter so casually left out of the first word.

"Mmmah mmmah." B'Elanna beamed. Miral repeated herself.

"Mama," B'Elanna clarified.

"Maama." _Her first word!! Take that Tom._

"Tom. She said Mama!"

"I know; I recorded it too."

"You did?" Tom answered with a soft _mhmm_ as he lowered the camera. B'Elanna felt so happy she could burst.

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this lying around for a while. I'm finally happy with it so here it is.


End file.
